Most of the passersby were too focused on their own paths before them to notice the lady standing in the middle of the sidewalk, staring intently at a poster taped to the brick wall. Those who did whispered to one another and pointed at her claws protruding from under the hem of her long, orange dress’ skirt. Kaisha ignored them, assuming they just found her clothing out of place, since she had already made the effort to hide her wings.

   As she had landed here in this large city, she had had to admit to herself that she had acted quite rashly and that she indeed did not have a plan. She had been angry, still was, and she had only thought that it was time to take matters into her own hands. So for the last hour and a half she had been wandering the streets, straining to think of a plan.

   And now the plan was spelled out almost letter for letter on the poster in front of her. It was brilliant. Sure, it would need some tweaking to get exactly what she wanted, but what better way to get all four of them in the same place, caught unawares?

   “That doesn’t just sound fishy to me,” Victoria commented, an eyebrow raised as she looked squarely into Brekke’s eyes. “It looks, smells, tastes, feels, and practically screams fishy.”

   “Exactly!” Brekke replied without missing a beat, taking a slurp from her soda. “It means that it is more than highly unlikely to be something! I mean, they can’t be that stupid, can they? Besides, if it is, we need to be there to protect whoever might be impersonating us.” She nodded and crossed her arms, leaning back against the back of her chair.

   Trish gazed blankly at the flyer that Brekke had laid upon the table. She had her hands cupped around her warm mocha, trying to warm herself up as the café’s air-conditioning put on an all out war with the outside humidity. It was Saturday afternoon and disturbingly warm for the end of May.

   “Um,” Trish spoke up. “According to that flyer, this costume party would be today.”

   “Yeah,” Brekke nodded.

   “Why wasn’t this brought to our attention before?” Victoria asked coolly.

   The black-haired girl straightened, looking oddly triumphant. “Because before it was just a costume party!”

   Trish and Victoria exchanged confused looks, which prompted Brekke to continue smugly.

   “See, I’ve been seeing these posters everywhere for the past week or so, but they only said they were a costume party on them. Only yesterday evening did I notice, or rather only yesterday did they say, that it was a sailor senshi costume party and with big prizes at that!” She hit the table with the palm of her hand for emphasis.

   “Prizes?” The blonde perked up.

   “Even more evidence that it’s just one, big, badly thought out trap!” Victoria hissed.

   “Yes, prizes,” Brekke turned deliberately to the blonde, ignoring Victoria. “Meaning lots of money. First four places in originality get something like ten thousand yen each!”

   The redhead slapped her forehead. “Please tell me you were kidding when you said ‘first four places’, please. This isn’t even funny how blatantly pathetic it is.”

   “Um, no,” Brekke replied, checking the flyer. “Says here that it starts at eight, goes ‘till two, judging will begin at ten, no entry fee and lots of free food. Contest will be judged upon realism and originality with four possible first place winners.”

   “That’s just sad.”

   “I say we go,” Trish stated. Victoria glanced at her in surprise. “I mean, Brekke’s right,” she quickly elaborated. “Either it’s a really blatant trap, where we should go just to stop somebody else from getting hurt instead of us, or it’s a really good way to get some money.”

   “Aye, aye!” Brekke cried.

   The redhead seemed unconvinced. “Has it occurred to either of you that practically handing ourselves over is worse than having any odd girl get hurt instead? The point of realizing a trap is a trap is to avoid it. Besides, its most likely just a diversion.”

   Brekke rolled her eyes. “The point of realizing a trap is a trap is to be prepared before you set foot into the trap. And to avoid other unseen traps. Besides, you’ve seen the intelligence of what we’re up against. They’re blithering idiots!”

   Victoria opened her mouth to comment but then closed it before muttering, “well, they are idiots.” Her voice rose again. “But that’s still not an excuse to hand ourselves over!”

   “You don’t have to hand yourself over,” Brekke stated. “Me and Trish can go tonight and tell you about it tomorrow.”

   The redhead was shaking her head even before Brekke finished her sentence. “No. There is no way that I’m going to let you two go alone to this thing.”

   “Are you implying we can’t handle it ourselves?” Brekke said coolly, but Trish could tell the girl’s temper was just under control.

   “Yes,” Victoria returned, her brown eyes boring into the other girl. “Two of us would be too easy of a target. You’re not going without me.”

   “Well,” Brekke stated sarcastically. “We’ll just have to stay home and behave ourselves and then sneak out when you’re not looking, mother.”

   “I didn’t say you’d have to,” Victoria folded her hands in front of her. “I’m coming with you, since you’re so dead-set on it.”

   “Thanks mother,” Brekke grumbled. “We don’t need your permission.”

   “No you don’t,” Victoria replied with a smirk. “I’m just coming with you to make sure you don’t get yourselves killed.”

   “Oh! Please save us!” The black-haired girl laid the back of a hand against her forehead. “I think I shall faint and die if I see one of those scary shadows, mommy!”

   Trish laughed as Victoria swatted Brekke on the arm. Her grin remained as she concentrated on finishing her lukewarm mocha, wondering at how the two had managed to stay away from a fight. A week ago they’d have been at each other’s throats, literally, and now they were almost playfully taking stabs at each other. She shook her head; it was almost surreal.

   A deepening azure rolled across the sky as Platos stood in front of the gate to a local middle school. She could hear music and laughter coming from the large, brightly lit gymnasium behind her; the party had already started. However neither Victoria nor Brekke were anywhere to be seen. The blonde had been waiting at the entrance for the past half hour, stubbornly ignoring the odd looks from girls passing through. Even a few boys, dressed in full senshi costume, raised an eyebrow at her white apparel.

   Platos felt exposed and alone, despite Ora sitting in a nearby tree, preening his feathers. She was constantly glancing around for any sign of a shadow, wondering how she could possibly spot one in the diminishing light. Streetlights only gave the world more dark corners and even the moon hid beneath the Earth’s shade.

   “Platos! Hey! Over here!”

   The blonde glanced around and finally spotted Ypsos weaving her way past a particularly large group of girls. At the same time Mikos came trotting up from the opposite direction. As the three of them greeted each other, Platos noted that the redhead seemed to be a lot less sullen about the whole thing than earlier. In fact, she seemed quite excited.

   “Shall we go in then, m’ladies?” She asked, waving them through the gate.

   Although there was no entrance fee, they were still stopped at the doors to the gymnasium by a boy with a scattering of zits and thick glasses, requesting their names. In front of him sat several piles of different colored “Hi! My name is” stickers and a black felt pen.

   “Uh, Trish,” Platos sputtered.

   Mikos poked her in the side and indicated a few stacks of stickers that were already filled out with “Sailor Mercury,” “Sailor Moon,” and so on. Realizing her mistake, the blonde quickly grabbed the pen, printed “Sailor Platos” on a green sticker, and pounded it on to her collar. She waited for the other two by the door, turning a slight shade of pink and feeling stupid.

   “And that is why you’re not the leader,” Mikos commented as the three of them proceeded to wander around the gym. She had picked a more subtle shade of black for her sticker.

   “We don’t have a leader,” Ypsos stated lightly. “Where do you suppose the food is?”

   “Over there where the long line is?” Platos guessed.

   Mikos stood on tiptoe, squinting over the many colored heads. “Looks like it!” She said. “But that line is for some sign-up thing. There’s somebody taking names down.”

   “That’s probably where you sign up for the competition,” Ypsos stated. “Even if it isn’t, I didn’t have dinner before coming here.” She began heading off toward the far end of the gymnasium.

   The other two fell into step behind her. Platos found her counterpart’s lack of commentary to be slightly unsettling, but then she noticed the black-haired girl seemed to be too caught up in observing the crowd. For the first time that night, Platos looked around as well, actually taking in the absurdity of a dozen girls wearing something akin to Sailor Mars’ fuku chatting amongst themselves nearby.

   However there weren’t just teenagers walking around in the outfits of the Sol senshi; for every one of them, there seemed to be someone wearing a fuku of their own design. These designs seemed to have taken on their own life. There were quite a few that only varied in color, such as with one infinitely tall lady in black and peach, but another handful definitely claimed artistic license. Such as a shorter girl, her head full of black curls, wearing a black fuku that could have been Mikos’. Except hers had neither bows nor a brooch and was trimmed with a dark red. She also carried a scythe.

   Other than her and Mikos, though, it seemed no one had decided to wear a pitch-black fuku. No one walked around in a white one, either. Platos felt oddly disappointed as she noted this, but then she realized that it only made sense. It wasn’t like many people had ever seen them.

   Which led to her being quite surprised as one of the girls from the Mars group came running up. “Oh my-! Oh my-!” She cried. “You saw her too?!”

   Platos stopped, startled, and stared at the bouncing girl in front of her. She looked vaguely familiar however the blonde couldn’t place the girl.

   “Saw who?” Platos wondered, confused.

   Mikos slapped the blonde playfully on her back, possibly a bit harder than was called for. “Oh yeah, we both saw Platos the other day!”

   The girl stopped bouncing and gave Mikos a penetrating look. “Aren’t you that nasty American girl?”

   “Nasty? Me?” Mikos looked indignant. “I think you’ve got somebody else in mind. When did you see Platos?”

   The girl pursed her lips but then shrugged, “The other night on the soccer field! She really kicked some butt.” She grinned at Platos.

   “I was, I mean, Mikos was there as well!” The black-haired senshi growled.

   “Mikos?” The girl blinked and scrunched her eyebrows together. “You mean that one in green?”

   “No!” Mikos snapped, waving her hand impatiently at herself. “I mean who I’m dressed as! Sailor Mikos! You know, her counterpart?” She jerked her head at the blonde.

   “Oh,” she stated, eyeing Mikos’ outfit. “That girl? I thought she was one of those demon things…”

   Platos quickly grabbed her counterpart’s hand; she looked dangerously close to slapping the other girl. “Come on,” she said. “We’d better catch up to Victoria.”

   “Yeah,” Mikos grumbled, snatching her hand away and walking off in the direction their red-haired friend had disappeared to.

   “Nice talking to you!” Platos called back before darting after Mikos.

   “You know,” the black-haired senshi grumbled as Platos caught up. “I didn’t expect them to run at me asking for photographs. But I didn’t expect them to think I was evil, either.”

   The blonde stared blankly at her friend in surprise; was this real emotion Mikos was showing? She watched speechless beside her, watching her curiously but with a tad bit of concern.

   “Everyone always assumes the worse about me,” Mikos continued to mutter. Abruptly she grinned, though. “At least we haven’t seen any fans flocking towards Ypsos.”

   Ahead of them Platos spotted the redhead standing in line, a paper plate topped with all sorts of junk food in hand, apparently alone. She only had a few other girls ahead of her. At the front of the line was a small table with an orange-haired lady sitting at it, wearing an equally orange evening gown. Black gloves, however, covered her hands. Before her on the table laid a piece of paper and in one of her gloved hands, a pen.

   As the group of girls, who had been just two ahead of Ypsos, left the table, Platos spotted a banner hanging from its edge; “Sign-Ups Here.” Mikos had been right.

   “Hey tomato head!” Mikos called as they neared Ypsos. “What did you think you were up to, running off like that?”

   Ypsos turned to them, an eyebrow raised. “I didn’t run off; you two decided to lag behind. You should be thanking me that you don’t have to stand all the way back there.” She waved towards the end of the line, which currently was situated about halfway along the long wall of the gym. The gym itself seemed to be slightly longer than a football field.

   Mikos shrugged. “So? The judging doesn’t start for another half hour and it’s not like there’s much else to do here.”

   The redhead snorted. “And whose idea was it to come here in the first place?”

   Mikos opened her mouth, however someone interrupted her. “Would the ladies wish to enter the competition?”

   The three of them looked at the orange-haired lady, registering that they were next in line. Platos blushed with embarrassment as Mikos crossed her arms and Ypsos stepped forward.

   “Yes we do,” the redhead stated. “We’re entering as Sailors Ypsos, Platos, and Mikos.”

   Platos watched the lady as she wrote these names down slowly and deliberately. Was it just her or was the lady trying to hide a smile?

   “And your names?” The lady asked, looking back up.

   “Names?” Ypsos blinked. “You mean…”

   “Considering there already are a Ypsos, a Platos, and a Mikos entered,” the lady stated softly, looking down at her list.

   “Oh,” Ypsos looked sideways at the other two before shrugging. “Well then. Victoria McBain, Trish Conti, and Brekke Taylor, respectively.”

   “Thank you,” the lady replied, dismissing them with a wave of her hand. “Next?”

   The three of them left quickly and began to wander aimlessly around. Or rather, as Platos noted that the other two seemed to be searching for someone, not quite so aimlessly. They managed to cover every corner of the building in their aimlessness, anyway.

   “I don’t see them anywhere!” Mikos muttered as they found themselves near the front, where a platform stood. “And we would’ve spotted them, wouldn’t we?”

   “Odd,” Ypsos nodded. “I’d say maybe they’re in the bathroom, except they would’ve come out by now. And then we would’ve seen them. Bright red doesn’t hide too well in a crowd, at least.”

   “Does it matter much?” Platos wondered.

   “Well, no,” the redhead shook her head. “I’m just curious.”

   “We’ll beat them hands down,” Mikos stated confidently. “Considering we’re the real thing and all.”

   Ypsos snorted. “It doesn’t matter whether we win or not.”

   The black-haired girl raised her eyebrows. “And what do you mean by that? Of course it matters! 10000 Yen, Vic!”

   Whatever Ypsos had in reply, however, was cut short as the orange-haired lady strolled out onto the platform, microphone in hand. She tapped the mic lightly, catching the crowd’s attention and bringing a wave of silence through the gym. Platos stared at the lady’s brilliant orange hair, which reached all the way down to the floor, swirling around her shoes, which seemed to be a dark brown.

   “Welcome, welcome all and one,” the lady said, her deep, soft voice amplified by the mic and reverberating off the walls. “It’s such a treat to see so many have come to have…a good time here. Now I won’t dally in such formalities, since I suspect most of you have come for the contest.”

   “Nah, actually I bet most just came for the free food,” Mikos stated.

   “To reiterate and to refresh some memories,” she continued. “This a contest of creativity. Four first place winners will be selected for their original costumes. Blatantly said, those of you dressed as Sol senshi shouldn’t bother entering. Now, for the remaining people who signed up ahead of time, you may now come on stage.”

   Mikos snorted at this as Ypsos grabbed both of their arms and began dragging them towards the stage. “C’mon, that means us!”

   A group of around twenty other girls had assembled on stage by the time the three of them had gotten up there. The crowd began to mutter again, part of it sounding quite disgruntled, as another two girls dashed up on stage. The lady had been watching them as they came onstage, a small smile on her pale face. She turned back to her audience as the stream of girls dried up.

   “Looks like we have a decent number up here,” she stated, her eyes scanning the crowd. “Well, then I hope you have since dragged your little friends out of the bathroom and those of you who will try to escape already have. Because otherwise, you’ll have to wait. I do not like it when people leave during the most…integral part.”

   She stopped and basked in the confused and slightly disturbed stares of the crowd, her hands clasping the mic lovingly, her smile slowly broadening into a grin. The lady closed her eyes momentarily and a series of loud clicks echoed through the building.

   “Hey!” Somebody cried from the other side of the gymnasium. “Who locked the bathroom?” When he noticed the entire room was staring at him, he turned a bright shade of pink. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interfere!”

   “Now we know it wasn’t a distraction,” Mikos stated simply, her eyes narrowed as she watched the lady closely.

   “We can safely assure ourselves that we’ve fallen squarely into the trap, I assume?” Ypsos returned sarcastically.

   “Who is she?” Platos asked herself out loud.

   “With that settled,” the lady continued. “I’d like to remind our resident heroes that it would be unwise to do anything rash. I have over a hundred hostages and you have no idea what I intend to do with them in the event that you decide to, oh, say, attack me.” She glanced around at the stunned girls behind her on the stage, her gaze briefly lingering on the three before she turned her attention back to the crowd. “However, as long as our resident heroes aren’t bellicose, you will all return home perfectly alright.”

   The muttering of the crowd became louder, and Platos spotted quite a few trying to quietly sneak away. However when they reached the doors, which they quietly tried to slip through, they found them locked. The blonde knew that at any moment panic would break out. She turned to Ypsos.

   “We have to do something!” She whispered urgently. “There’s going to be some massive panic soon.”

   Ypsos nodded slowly. “It seems there will be panic whether we do something or not. I doubt a confrontation would incite them to remain calm.”

   “Well, what’s the plan then, genius?” Mikos asked darkly.

   “Wait until she makes her request, then decide,” Ypsos responded quietly. She glanced around at the other two. “Agreed?” They nodded.

   They watched the lady surveying the distressed crowd. She finally spoke again in her slow and deliberate tone. “It seems your heroes aren’t about to step forward to save you. Well then, a little incentive is in order.”

   Before anyone could blink, she had grabbed the nearest girl on stage and held her tightly with one arm to her chest. She used her teeth to rip off the glove on the other hand, revealing a scaly falcon-like claw underneath, complete with talons. The girl gave an audible squeal of fright and stopped attempting to get away.

   “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” the lady cooed, caressing the girl’s cheek with the tip of a talon. A fine bright red line followed its path.

   “Let her go!” Platos yelled, stepping forward.

   However no one but the other two turned to look at her. They had all focused their attention on a girl who had pushed herself through the crowd to the bottom of the stage. She raised her staff threateningly.

   “Let her go!” She shouted, apparently again, as Platos’ brain clicked in that she knew this girl.

   “Oh, look children, here’s our first hero candidate,” the lady smiled. “As to letting her go, that’s only if you have what I want.”

   Sailor Platos realized she was being held in place by the other two. She looked back to see that despite their tight grips, they were not focused on her, but rather staring with disbelief at the girl on the floor.

   “Kairos,” Ypsos stated, eyes narrowed. “What is she doing here?”

   “How the hell did she get in here?” Mikos asked, perplexed.

   “What do you want?” Kairos asked curtly.

   “What do you suppose?” The lady returned slowly. “The pyramid, of course.”

   “Uh huh,” Kairos shot a quick glance around the room. “And if I were to give it to you, what is your assurance that they would all be released immediately, unharmed?”

   Ypsos sputtered. “She doesn’t actually think she can give it away like that, does she?” She turned to stare at Mikos for an answer.

   “I assure you I will keep my word,” the lady stated.

   Kairos’ face remained hard. “I do not know the value of your word. And I will not give you it until you prove it.”

   “How about this,” she returned, her voice suddenly cold. “I have no time to play games. Either you give it to me now, with my word that they will go free, or you wait until the count of seven and one less will leave.” The lady paused and moved her claw from the girl’s face to her throat. “One…”

   Kairos stood firm, keeping a fixed glare. “…two…” Her nose twitched and Platos abruptly realized the girl had no idea what she was doing. “…three…” Kairos’ expression softened slightly and she straightened up, opening her mouth to speak. “…four…”

   The blonde only knew that whatever Kairos had in mind wasn’t about to work. She hesitated momentarily, tensing up, before she jerked her arms free of Ypsos and Mikos and darted forward, flinging herself at the lady. Taken by surprise (“…fi-IVE!”), the lady toppled over with Platos on top of her.

   A collective gasp filled the air. Platos heard the other two come running up a second later as the girl crawled out from under the lady’s arm. The blonde was lying with her eyes shut on top of the lady, who lay on her side, one arm trapped underneath her. She opened her eyes and quickly jumped up; the lady’s orange eyes had been staring at her with almost piercing fury.

   The three of them backed up as the lady got to her own feet, her eyes never leaving Platos. However another very audible series of clicks made them all glance towards the other end of the gym. One of the doors unexpectedly swung open, revealing a patch of darkness beyond.

   “See? I told you we could unlock them,” someone said from the other side of the door. A second later a police officer poked his head inside the gym and looked around curiously. “Didn’t you guys realize all your doors were locked?” He asked.

   It was as if somebody had turned on the sound. The crowd burst into noise, a mix between screams and cheers, as it rushed towards the doors. Kairos, Ypsos, Mikos, Platos, and the lady stared as it hit the wall like a wave and then trickled through in a matter of seconds. As the last few from the first wave made it through the doors, a second, much smaller wave, comprised of the twenty or so girls from the stage, reached it.

   However before the policeman even had a chance to poke his head back through the door, all of them slammed shut. Another series of audible clicks echoed through the room. Platos glanced at the lady, who had turned herself towards the doors and closed her eyes. Now she reopened them.

   “Oops,” she hissed softly. “It seems I let a few escape. But we can’t let them all go.” She returned her attention to Platos, eyes narrowed. “That was a very, very bad thing to do, little girl,” she stated.

   Without warning, Platos felt herself lifting into the air. She glanced down in fright to see the floor of the stage steadily escaping her feet. She froze, afraid she might fall if she moved too much. After rising at least thirty feet into the air, her ascent halted and she found herself floating.

   Her eyes remained riveted to those of the lady, who was grinning maliciously. Giant, dark brown leathery wings unfolded from her shoulder blades. With slow, steady strokes of these wings the lady rose into the air as she deliberately removed her other black glove, letting it fall to the floor beneath her. She ascended to the same level as Platos, her eyes never breaking their hold and she drifted forward until her outstretched claw could cup the chin of the terrified blonde.

   “Sailor Platos,” she whispered. “Perhaps you do not remember me. After all these years it is perfectly acceptable. My name is Kaisha and you have reason to fear me.”

   “Let her down!” Kairos cried and the blonde did not need to glance down to know she was standing on the stage beside the other two now.

   “Oh?” The lady, Kaisha, returned without looking away. “Do you really want that?”

   “No!” Mikos and Ypsos cried simultaneously as Kairos gave a distinct, “Yes!”

   “It frankly baffles me,” Kaisha said conversationally to Platos as she began tracing the blonde’s cheek with her other claw. “How you lot have managed to defeat my Shadows again and again; you are so thick.”

   The blonde was only half listening. Below her it seemed there was a scuffle taking place. She heard growling, a cry of pain, and muted sound of wood hitting a person. A moment later there was a dull thump and an angry, “Hey!”

   Kaisha looked down too late. “Aura ora…!”

   A defiant Kairos came leaping up after them, her glowing staff stretched up over her head as far as she could reach. “Whack!” She yelled, swiping it against the back of Kaisha’s legs before gravity regained its hold on her.

   Although it was a glancing blow, the dark purple energy it discharged managed to flow up into the lady, even finding a way through her outstretched arms into Platos. A searing pain ripped through her skin and her vision exploded into vicious sparks. Kaisha gave a nasty shriek as her claws spasmed, digging the talons deep into the blonde’s skin before letting go. They both plunged to the ground.

   “Platos!” Somebody cried in fright.

   “Kairos, you blithering idiot!” Somebody else yelled.

   And then Platos felt the floor slam against her back, her skull cracking dully against it. The pain dissipated instantly, her vision going completely black. A few seconds later, however, she became aware of a slowly growing pain, followed closely by a wave of nausea.

   “Are you okay?” Somebody asked timidly and Platos felt hands supporting her head and upper back, willing her to sit up.

   “Don’t move her, dimwit!” Mikos shouted. “She might have broken something!”

   Platos clearly proved that this was not the case as she sat abruptly upright, rolled over onto her knees, and promptly threw up. Other than a few sparks in her vision and a lingering nausea, though, she seemed to be all right She felt someone’s hands on her shoulders and turned her head to see an anxious looking Kairos.

   “I’m so sorry!” She cried, briefly giving the startled Platos a hug. “I don’t know- I didn’t mean to-,” she shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. “Are you all right? Can you stand?”

   Platos nodded dumbly and Kairos helped her to her feet, slowly taking her hands away as if the white senshi might suddenly topple over. When Platos only swayed slightly but still remained on her feet, Kairos’ anxiety diminished visibly. The blonde noticed that Mikos and Ypsos had hurried over. Mikos seemed about to murder Kairos; she had her hands clenched tightly to her sides and her eyes narrowed to slits. Ypsos was also distinctly irate; however, she had a restraining hand on the black senshi’s arm.

   “Are you okay?” Ypsos asked, quickly looking over the blonde for any damage.

   “So nice of you to ask,” Kaisha hissed, causing all four of the girls to glance over at her, standing a few feet away with her arms crossed and her wings tucked back in against her body; they had briefly forgotten she was there.

   “Well, considering you’re evil and all, she’s kind of our first priority,” Mikos stated blandly. “Can’t please everyone, you know.”

   Kaisha glared at the black senshi but didn’t reply. Instead she uncrossed her arms, raised both her hands, palms outward, to her chest level, and then made a pushing motion away from her body. As she repeated this motion a few times, the four girls exchanged glances and Mikos waved her hand in front of her face, indicating a lack of sanity.

   Then Kaisha closed her eyes and made the repetition a seventh time. Without warning, the four of them were lifted a foot into the air and thrown against the wall behind them and the stage. They were held against the wall at a ten-foot distance from the ground for a few seconds before abruptly being allowed to drop back to the floor. Mikos gave a load groan of pain as Ypsos and Platos both sprang simultaneously back to their feet. Kairos was a few seconds behind them. She offered a hand to the black senshi who glared at her for another couple of seconds before ignoring it and getting up on her own. Kairos looked hurt.

   Kaisha still had her hands out in front of her, mid push. She smirked. “Now, the pyramid?”

   “Over our dead bodies!” Mikos shouted.

   “Well, we could arrange that,” Kaisha shrugged. “But that could prove inhibiting. You’re needed alive for now. How about over their-” she jerked her head in the direction of the twenty or so girls gathered around the doors at the other end of the hall “-dead bodies?”

   The four senshi glanced at each other.

   “Anyone else for taking her out?” Mikos polled.

   Ypsos shrugged. “I don’t see why not. It seems to be our only choice right now.”

   “All right!” Mikos yelled, addressing Kaisha, and holding her hands out in front of her. “We’ll give it to you! We just have to…er…get all the pieces and stuff together!” She lowered her voice to address the group again. “Now, just charge up and throw when I say ‘go’, ‘kay?”

   “Wow Brekke, your intelligence has gone up lately,” Victoria said as she held her own hands in front of her. “Or are you just an alien clone?”

   “Hah, hah, hah Vic,” Mikos stuck her tongue out. “Ready everybody? Good. Go!”

   “Uh, Mikos-?” Kairos said, but her voice was quickly swallowed up by the other three’s shouts.

   “Cyclone inferno! Aqua shock! Bloody acid!”

   The three attacks flew at Kaisha, who had, a second beforehand, figured out what the senshi were actually up to. She shook her head and closed her eyes again. Around fifteen feet from her, the attacks abruptly swerved off course at a right angle, towards the group of girls. The lady reopened her eyes to see the four senshi darting across the stage towards the far-end of the gym.

   “No you don’t!” Kaisha chided.

   Platos felt her feet leaving the ground again for the third time that day. All four of them were suspended a few inches above the ground, unable to move and forced to watch as their own attacks hit the group of girls. Fortunately, most of them had tried to get out of the way, so only a few were hit directly. Those few, though, were either knocked against the wall and unconscious, rolling around on the floor to extinguish flames, or screaming and running around, trying to find a way to remove the acid from their skin.

   Then the four of them were moving again, accelerating backwards towards the stage. The force released them right before they slammed into the wall behind the stage again, allowing them to obey gravity and drop to the ground afterwards. However this time they weren’t nearly so high up when they fell, so they were able to spring to their feet swiftly.

   “I wouldn’t want you four endangering yourselves too early,” Kaisha stated, smiling as she raised one claw towards the ceiling.

   All four looked skywards as a loud creaking sound filled the gym. The beams supporting the ceiling began to bend and move slightly, threateningly, causing it to groan angrily. Kaisha twisted her claw and the area directly above the group of girls began to twist, as if unscrewing itself from the ceiling.

   “Now,” Kaisha said slowly. “Either let your little friends be crushed or hand over the pyramid. Do you really want twenty deaths directly accountable to you?”

   Platos glanced from the ceiling to the girls, who seemed too preoccupied with their wounds to notice their immediate peril. She opened her mouth to shout at them but before she could she found herself thrown against the wall for the third time. Kairos darted over to help her up. Ypsos and Mikos were holding a whispered conference.

   “I don’t have time for this!” Kaisha yelled impatiently. “You have five seconds and I’m not counting out loud!” She twisted her hand for emphasis, causing a shower of dust to come down.

   Kairos, helping Platos back to the other two, sighed and yelled, “All right!”

   Mikos and Ypsos turned around to glare at her and she shrugged. “It can’t hurt, can it? We just conjure it, she stops making the roof cave in, but we don’t have to give it to her yet. And we can’t let those girls die.” She looked around at the defiant faces and crossed her arms, shrugging. “Unless you have a better idea?”

   They slowly shook their heads. Kairos swallowed and addressed Kaisha again, who was watching them closely. “All right! We’ll give it to you.”

   “Problem,” Mikos spoke up. “How exactly do we do it?”

   Kairos bit her lip thoughtfully for a moment. “I suppose we just…try and call it.” To demonstrate, she closed her eyes and held her hands up to her chest.

   At first, nothing happened; however, after a few seconds, Platos could make out a tiny seed of light in the palms of the tall girl’s hands. The seed grew, taking the form of a roughly chiseled gem, black in color with an oily, iridescent sheen, until it was the size of a lime. Then it lost most of its light, glowing softly as Kairos opened her eyes and gazed in triumphant at the thing.

   Platos closed her own eyes and tried to focus. In her mind she concentrated on the image of the black gem, attempting to will something similar into her own hands. Apparently it worked for a few moments later she felt a steady warmth growing in her cupped palms. When the warmth began to recede, she opened her eyes and saw a similar crystal glowing in her hands, although this one was truly crystal and almost as clear as air.

   She looked around and noticed that Mikos’ and Ypsos’ were also varying in color. The red senshi’s was a deep, blood red while the black senshi’s was almost as ebony as Kairos’, except it lacked the colorful sheen. Instead, it seemed to absorb light, for it had no sheen.

   “And now we just put them together,” Ypsos stated, glancing at Kairos for confirmation.

   Before they could act, though, a loud boom interrupted them. Platos glanced over towards the doors at the far end of the gym, where one of them lay on the floor, smoking. Sailor Mars poked her head in through the door, spotted the four senshi up on stage, and stepped inside, beckoning the other four Sol senshi in.

   Meanwhile Kaisha had started in surprise, her upraised hand twisting around involuntarily. The ceiling gave a might groan as the spot above the group of girls turned, breaking itself free from the other beams and supports. It hung suspended for a half moment before gravity took over. All eyes were upon it, even the previously oblivious girls, as it dropped.

   And then the huge chunk of ceiling and debris slowed down to a stop, hanging precariously twenty feet above the heads of the girls. Platos wrenched her eyes away from it to stare at Kaisha, who was shaking visibly from the strain of holding it up.

   “Give…me…it…now,” Kaisha managed to bark out.

   “Okay, okay!” Ypsos yelled, “Just one second!”

   However the red senshi clearly had no intentions of doing so. She waved her arms wildly at the girls on the floor, indicating to them that she should move out of the way. Platos glanced, perplexed, from the redhead to the lady until she finally noticed that Kaisha’s eyes were closed. Of course.

   The girls, herded by the Sol Senshi, tore themselves out of their frightened bunny-in-headlights state and scattered. Most of them headed over the door and out the opening. A few ran disoriented towards an opposite corner of the gym. Sailor Venus and Mercury took off after the confused ones.

   A choked growl of anger made Platos’ attention return to the orange-haired lady; she had opened her eyes again and now the white senshi couldn’t tell whether Kaisha was shaking with anger or from the effort of keeping the debris suspended. With a louder growl that bordered on a bark, the lady threw the ceiling at the four senshi still standing on stage.

   They cried out in varying degrees of distress and scattered. Platos tripped and rolled a few feet before quickly covering her head with one hand, the other clutching the pyramid piece. A second later it rained white plaster and something metallic thunked nearby. The blonde peeked out from between her fingers and, noting that the coast was clear, uncurled and stood up. A glance around her showed that the other three seemed unhurt. The four of them regrouped and turned their attention back to Kaisha.

   The lady unfurled her wings and sprang into the air, her fists clenched at her sides. She focused her narrowed eyes at the four senshi on the stage and called, “I have every reason to bring this whole building down on you. However that would be senseless, for I still need those pieces. And since we were so rudely interrupted,” her eyes flickered over to the Sol Senshi, “we’ll have to try again another time. Don’t worry; I’ll contact you.”

   She smiled saccharinely and flicked one of her claws towards the doors. A white something came whizzing up towards Kaisha, who caught it without taking her eyes off the four senshi below her. She looked it over briefly before turning it around and holding it out for all to see.

   “Thank you for your time and your names,” she grinned cheekily, tucking the piece of paper away into her dress. Kaisha turned and rocketed through the newly formed hole in the ceiling.

   All nine senshi stared dumbly after for a few moments.

   “Shit,” Mikos said, breaking the silence. She turned to Ypsos. “How could you possibly give that freak our names?”

   Ypsos slapped her forehead and groaned.

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